The Continental: An Awesome BMW, Benz Interiors Will be Great, and Some Van Talk

Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental. Amidst rumors of an upcoming Audi A9—and coinciding with the launch of the 2014 Bentley Flying Spur and the newest Mercedes-Benz S-class—BMW is showing renderings of an ultra-luxury coupe. Conceived with Italian automotive couturier Pininfarina, it promises to be yet another BMW with an ultra-refined and elegant styling language. The concoction is being dubbed the Gran Lusso Coupé, and it will be unveiled at the Villa d'Este Concorso d'Eleganza next week. At a time when everyone else seems to rely solely on in-house styling departments, BMW is reaching out to one of the great names of the past, which hopefully will have a bright future ahead. The move marks the development of a trend for BMW, which last year hitched up to Zagato to make the Z4 sexier. I look forward to seeing Pininfarina's shot at interpreting a new BMW this year. I was truly impressed by the interior of the new Mercedes-Benz S-class. The overall style is debatable, but the attention to detail and craftsmanship are benchmark quality. This is all the more remarkable as Mercedes interiors often were considered one of the brand's weak spots in the past—a point which chief designer Gorden Wagener readily concedes. But those times are over: "We will build the best interiors, a class ahead of the competition, in every segment from now on. You will see it in the next C-class and E-class," Gorden tells me. The S-class will come to market in the U.S. with a 4.7-liter V-8 in S550 guise. Elsewhere, the S-class will also be offered with hybridized 3.5-liter V-6 (S400 hybrid), a 3.0-liter V-6 turbodiesel (S350 Bluetec), and a hybridized 2.1-liter, four-cylinder turbodiesel (S300 Bluetec hybrid). The high-performance S63 AMG has already been announced for the fall, and it is an open secret that there will be two V-12–powered monsters—the S600 and the S65 AMG—next year. I hear there's another version coming up: an S400 with a 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V-6—the same engine that powers the new E400. It might come to the U.S. eventually, but for now it is a more important engine for the Chinese market. Due to the ramp-up process, the V-6 turbo likely will come to the U.S. in the 2015 E-class coupe and cabriolet, where it will eventually replace the naturally aspirated, 3.5-liter V-6. Van Talk The V-6–powered iteration of the updated Sprinter van—which I drove in Düsseldorf, Germany this week—does not get the seven-speed automatic transmission available in the Euro version. The 2014 Sprinter with the new, base 2.1-liter four gets the new transmission in America, but the V-6 makes do with the old (and still adequate) five-speed slushbox for a while. The clumsy certification process required for new powertrains likely has a lot to do with the continued use of the five-speed. Government agencies at work! While in Düsseldorf, I had the opportunity to speak at length with the head of Mercedes-Benz's van division, former AMG chief Volker Mornhinweg. He says that the Sprinter is a door-opener, but it is well possible that the next-generation Vito will be offered in the U.S. as well. Conceived and finalized before the Daimler-Renault partnership, the Vito will keep its rear-wheel drive architecture. There will be an upscale variation of the Vito as well, as is currently offered in Europe, but it likely won't be called the Viano anymore. Even a possible successor of the smallish Citan could be offered in the U.S. Electrics in Hibernation I also asked Mornhinweg about hybrids and electrics, and he says that demand is virtually nonexistent. A few hundred units of the Vito E-cell were sold to customers in Germany before demand plunged to zero. Mornhinweg has axed plans to go ahead with electric vans for now, putting the technology in "hibernation mode." With cutting-edge vans like the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, the Ram Promaster (a rebadged Fiat) and the Ford Transit, what is GM to do? The rear-wheel drive G-Van, aka Chevrolet Express and GMC Safari, will continue to be updated, I am told by GM. As a quick band-aid, Chevrolet will offer a rebadged Nissan NV200—a smaller vehicle—as the Chevrolet City Express. I hope the G-Van remains in production for a while. Not that it makes a lot of sense, but it is nice to hear a V-8 rumble from an American van. from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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